Cultural understanding through artistic exchanges at the Kennedy Center
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The Fulbright Kennedy Center Fellowship for the Performing Arts and Sciences launches in Washington, D.C. with two Latin American recipients to connect with artists, staff, educators, and audiences. Launched through the U.S. Department of State’s Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, this fellowship is part of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, which provides international scholars with opportunities to learn and collaborate with one of the leading institutions in the United States and participate in international events such as the Kennedy Center’s Earth to Space Festival.
The award supports innovative multidisciplinary research and projects that address the connections between the performing arts, the environment, health, and well-being. These 3- to 6-month projects enable fellows to achieve greater impact in their home countries and in the international arts community, reinforcing the Fulbright Program’s long history of supporting creative and performing artists.
Two Latinos will be residents in Washington during this opening fellowship. The first is Adriana Jaramillo, a clinical psychology scholar and education specialist from Colombia, who is collaborating with the Kennedy Center’s Arts and Wellness Department. Her project, Music Journeys for Peace, focuses on how the healing power of the arts
promotes peace in divided societies. Jaramillo has worked in conflict zones around the world and has served as Deputy Director of Family Welfare in Colombia. She has also held positions as a professor and educational advisor at the World Bank. Her most recent publication, “A través del espejo” (Through the Mirror), presents the last 100 years of Colombia through the history of Colombian art. Her work has led her to understand the fundamental role that the arts play in promoting understanding, dialogue, and mediation in divided societies. Her research on the healing power of music will inform the peace initiatives and current school programs of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Music plays a key role in bringing divided societies together. As a Fulbright/Kennedy Center fellow, I will study the reactions and emotions of composers, musicians, and audience members during the music creation process to see how music can mediate understanding between people from different social, ethnic, religious, or political backgrounds,” said the fellow about her stay. Kate Villa, director of Comedy and Institutional Programming for the Kennedy Center’s Arts and Wellness Department, will host Jaramillo.
The second fellow is Brazilian Eder Zanetti, a forest scientist, engineer, and environmental journalist in Brazil, who will cooperate with the Kennedy Center’s International Programming department on his project, Green Education for a Sustainable Planet. Zanetti has studied climate change and biodiversity to advise corporations on green infrastructure planning. In recent years, he has addressed these issues on Planeta Sostenible (Sustainable Planet), the podcast and radio program he hosts in English and Portuguese. At the Kennedy Center, he will be researching how music, poetry, dance, comedy, theater, film, and hip-hop can expand educational efforts on environmental sustainability. The Kennedy Center’s upcoming Earth to Space festival will also contribute to his commitment to environmental planning for space exploration. Gilda Almedia, Director of International Programming, will host Eder Zanetti.
Alicia Adams, VP of Dance and International Programming at the Kennedy Center, will oversee Jaramillo and Zanetti’s staying.
